Norway's offshore fleet is about to change. From 2029, operators on the Norwegian continental shelf will be required to cut the emissions intensity of the vessels they use in oil and gas operations, and hydrogen is ready to meet the demand.
The Norwegian government has announced that all operators will be required to reduce greenhouse gas intensity from the vessels they use, starting in 2029. The requirement tightens progressively, reaching a 40% reduction by 2038–2040.
For NORHyWAY, this is significant news.
NORHyWAY partner GreenH AS is already developing a hydrogen production facility at Vestbase in Kristiansund, where several offshore vessels operate on regular routes. These vessels can be retrofitted to run on a blend of hydrogen and diesel, and with direct bunkering from GreenH's facility, the cost of hydrogen can be brought down to a level competitive with, or lower than, diesel, changing the economics of the switch entirely.
"The offshore industry has both the technology and the ambition to shift to hydrogen, what it has been missing is a clear market signal. These new regulations provide exactly that. At Vestbase, we are ready to supply hydrogen directly to offshore vessels, and the economics already work," says Morten Solberg Watle, CEO of GreenH.
The new regulation does more than set a target, it creates the demand certainty the industry needs. Investment decisions on hydrogen production and bunkering infrastructure have long been held back by uncertainty about demand. A binding requirement on operators, rather than shipowners, to reduce emissions intensity gives producers, infrastructure developers and shipowners a clear basis on which to invest.
GreenH's plans extend beyond Kristiansund. By 2031, the company aims to establish hydrogen production facilities in Hammerfest, Rogaland and Sandnessjøen, giving offshore vessels access to hydrogen at several of Norway's most important offshore bases along the coast.
Seen more broadly, the regulation is industrial policy as much as climate policy. As Maritime CleanTech has noted, Norway's maritime industry is competing with the world's largest cleantech nations. Rules that create real domestic demand for zero-emission solutions — hydrogen, ammonia, hybrid and electric systems — help build the supply chains and infrastructure the entire ecosystem depends on.
NORHyWAY is designed to be part of exactly that ecosystem: proving that green hydrogen can be produced, distributed and used at commercial scale, across maritime and other sectors, starting now.
Photo: Vestbase, Harald M. Valderhaug